


The Mess in the Corner

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [49]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Banter, Cute, I don't know how else to tag this, Peter Parker is Trying His Best, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Random & Short, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, someone help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23548462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: It's been a while since Tony's seen the corner of the workshop that Peter calls his own but when he does, he finds it to be a complete disaster.  Asking Peter to clean it up leads to some interesting explanations and all he can do is laugh.Basically, Tony learns that Peter is a typical teenager.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1397362
Comments: 24
Kudos: 286





	The Mess in the Corner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonchild2593](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonchild2593/gifts).



> This is a gift for Moonchild2593 because she 'LIKES PRESENTS TOO' and is pretty cool... I guess. 😂 
> 
> Seriously, she is. In fact, you should check out the work we wrote together, [Entangled](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22684543)
> 
> #I Love My Readers

"Hey, Mr. Stark? Can you look at this for me?", Peter asked from across Tony's large spread out, personal workshop. The one that only a handful of people had access to and no one else but him had ever been allowed to make themselves at home in. It was amazing, really. 

Tony looked up from his own work and looked towards the small corner of the room that Peter had pretty much taken over during the last few months. "Sure, kiddo. Bring it over here.", he said, wondering why the boy hadn't carried whatever it was over already. That was typically how it worked. Anytime the kid had a question or needed some input he would slink quietly over to wherever he was working, a project in hand.

Glancing between his desk and his mentor, Peter sighed. "Actually it's not quite stable enough to pick up yet. Can you come over here? I mean, if you're too busy that's fine but maybe when you have the chance?", he hesitantly asked because Tony was a busy man who did a lot of crazy important things and he was always worried about interrupting him. Which is exactly why he'd never asked the man to come to him before. It seemed less disruptive the other way around.

"I'm coming, Pete. Two seconds.", Tony returned with a smile. He could use a break from staring at the screen in front of him anyway. Helping the kid out was a good excuse to step away from it for a few minutes. So, he closed up the multiple windows he had open and started towards his mentee. Though as he got closer to where the teenager was waiting for his arrival, it occurred to him that he'd not been in that corner of the lab in quite a long time and he realized that the space looked _very_ different than it had the last time he'd seen it.

"Pete... it's a disaster over here.", Tony said as he took in the scene. He knew the kid could be unorganized. He'd seen the way his clothes were wrinkled from lack of proper folding and knew that the boy's backpack was slap full of wadded up worksheets and notes but what he was looking at was a whole new level of clutter. It was teetering on the edge of disgusting. "You should probably take a few minutes to clean it when you're done. I'm not sure how you can even find anything in all this mess.", he said with a sigh, his eyes slowly roaming over various piles of junk and seemingly out of place items.

"It's not a disaster. It's _controlled chaos_. I know where everything is.", Peter said with a smile. 

Tony huffed a laugh and placed his hands on his hips. There was no way the kid knew where everything was. The desk's top looked like a scrapyard. "Oh yeah? Where are your mini precision hand tools, hmm?", he asked with a quirk of his brow and watched with interest as the kid used his hand to knock a small pile of things into an open drawer before picking up the micro-tool kit and waving it in his face with a grin. 

Taking a deep breath, Tony tipped his head towards the only part of the work table that didn't have anything stacked on top of it. "What about that. Is that... crumbs and Cheeto powder coating your desk?", he asked with a quirk of his brow.

The desk was, in fact, covered in Cheeto powered and there was no denying, so Peter just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, yeah but I have a really important equation written out in it. See?", he explained while gesturing towards where you could vaguely make out where there was indeed an equation traced out in the crumbs.

Tony blinked back in dumbfoundedness. The kid had done a multi-step physics calculation with his finger, _in a pile of crumbs._ "You, you have a tablet to store those sorts of things in Or, you know, _paper._ I realize it's super high tech in here but I do have paper, kid.", he said, his hands going from his hips to wildly gesture towards the supply closet that was stocked with numerous office supplies. Everything from pencils and highlighters to pads of graphing paper and stacks of notebooks. There were some things that just begged to be written down and he was prepared for just such things. 

"I was in a hurry and that worked.", Peter replied with a verbal shrug. He knew there was paper but he'd not had time to go track it down. He'd been on a roll and the pause would have caused him to lose concentration. He'd worked with what he had. He'd been _resourceful._

Moving on, Tony pointed towards the office chair that had been pushed off to the side and rendered unusable. "You can't even sit in your chair. It's covered in... what is that?", he asked when he'd not been able to see what exactly was being stored inside of the cardboard from his angle. Whatever it was it looked dusty, as if it hadn't been touched in ages.

Following his mentor's gaze, Peter laid eyes on the box and smiled. "Oh! That's the parts I was going to use to build the rotary indexer that Ned and I thought we needed for that science project last month.", he explained. "Turns out we were overthinking it and decided to go another route completely."

"If you're not going to use it then why do you still have it? It's just in the way.", Tony strained because he couldn't fathom why it was still there if nothing was ever going to be done with it.

"I might need it later.", Peter countered. He and Ned had spent days collecting all of those parts from various dumpsters and consignment shops. He wasn't going to just toss it out and the chair wasn't an issue in his opinion. He tended to fidget while he worked and being on his feet was easier than sitting still. Something about having the freedom to step side to side and dart from one place to another helped him concentrate. He would have thought his mentor would have known that. He was always telling him to be still whenever they ended up sitting side by side. He couldn't help it. His body just needed to move in order to think properly. "Besides, I never sit in the chair anyway.

There was no denying that Peter was rarely in a chair. As such, he chose to let that one go for the time being. Instead, he turned his attention to the area just above his mentee's table. "...and how about that spider up there?", he said, pointing upwards with a smirk.

Glaring at his mentor, Peter crossed one arm over his chest while the other pointed towards the neatly maintained web along with its small occupant. "Hey! You leave Jimmy out of this!", he said with more passion than was probably necessary. 

"You... you've named the spider?", Tony sputter, once again baffled by the kid's thought process. Peter cut his eyes to the side not answering and Tony threw his hands up in defeat. "Oh my god, You can put that box in the storage closet and then wipe down that desk. I'll go get a broom.", he said once again waving his hand towards the eight-legged intruder.

Peter's mouth gaped open in horror at the indication. "Don't you dare touch, Jimmy!", he gasped, taking several hurried steps towards where his mentor was already starting towards the closest that held the cleaning supplies, grabbing his arm as soon as he'd caught up. "What did he ever do to you?", he pleaded, taking note of the incredulous look his mentor was sending him but not caring. He happened _to like_ his little spider brethren's company. 

"Are you being serious right now?", Tony inquired and then shook his head. It was all too obvious that the kid was actually being serious. "Never mind.", he groaned as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "The spider can stay but the crumbs and the box are going. I'll go get you some paper... and a new tool chest or something so you have somewhere to put all that other stuff."

"I already have one.", Peter replied as if that should have been obvious. Tony had casually delegated an entire collection of things to store his stuff in, he just... didn't always use it. There were certain tools that he employed on a regular basis and it was easier to keep them out and spread around his workspace. 

"Where?", Tony responded as his eyes darted around, not seeing a tool chest anywhere.

Smiling, Peter moved towards the far wall and started moving a few things around so that the chest would become visible. "Behind this stack of plywood and sheet metal over here.", he explained and watched as Tony crossed the room to investigate.

After pulling open three mostly empty drawers, Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose. "I-- Do you have _any_ executive functioning skills?", he queried. While he didn't necessarily have all of his own tools perfectly arranged and categorized, he did put the things he wasn't actively using away in order to avoid complete disarray.

Peter briefly looked towards the floor and began to twist the toe of his shoe on the tiled floor. Then with a sigh, he looked up and folded his arms in front of himself. "I make up for what I'm lacking in that department with creativity.", he flatly replied. 

Tony nodded his head and smirked at his slightly miffed mentee. "Well, could you please creatively put all the apple cores and banana peels into the trash can?", he asked with humor. "...because that's how you get flies."

"That's what I have Jimmy for.", Peter shot back with a broad grin that met his eyes. However, he did decide to make a show of picking up one of the banana peels and dropped it into the small, admittedly empty, wastebasket beside his desk. 

Tony stared back at the kid for several seconds and then laughed. "You're a piping hot mess.", he mirthfully quipped.

"No, I'm not.", Peter returned but he wasn't the least bit offended. 

Tony's gleeful smile turned soft as he reached out and pulled the kid into his side. "Yes, you are but it's not a completely bad thing. You keep me entertained on a regular basis.", he teased but there was truth behind his words. The boy kept him on his toes, made him laugh and was constantly reminding him of everything that was good in the world. 

Leaning his head into his mentor's shoulder, Peter sighed contentedly. "I'm glad I can be of service.", he said after a few moments had passed. Then, just as he was really starting to relax into the man's grasp he has playfully shoved away.

"Great. You know how else you can be of service?", Tony asked once the moment the kid had caught his balance and started to laugh.

"By throwing away the trash and moving that box?", Peter guessed with a smile. 

"He learns!", Tony announced without missing a beat and then reach out to ruffle the boy's hair. After that, he looked on as Peter began to pick up the rest of the empty snack wrappers and throw them away. As he did so, he remembered why he'd been called over there in the first place and started looking at the design that was sitting at the edge of the table. The kid didn't even notice as he ran his hands over it and tweaked a few of the loose wires. Despite the unholy mess, it had been fabricated amongst, it was good work. 

"Hey, Pete?", Tony called out quietly, Peter humming back in acknowledgment. "The mock-up you wanted me to look at? That's some really smart stuff. Good job, kid.", he continued with a gentle smile before slipping his hands into his pockets and starting towards the supply closet as promised. 

Peter smiled over his shoulder as he continued to wipe the crumbs into his hand so that he could transfer them into the trash and smiled. "Thanks, Mr. Stark.", he said and went back to cleaning up, a thousand new ideas already haphazardly flying through his head.

**Author's Note:**

> Executive functioning skills: A set of mental skills that help you with things like, Impulse control, Flexible Thinking, Working Memory, Self-Monitoring, Planning and Prioritizing, Task Initiation, and Organization


End file.
